Friday, February 7, 2014

Spark, The Bionics Book Blitz

Today on my blog I have the Spark, The Bionics book blitz. On my stop there is a spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway.

Most nineteen-year-old girls are thinking about
college, stretching the wings of newfound adulthood, and boys. Well, I’ll
probably go to college and all my dreams of the future are gone. I’ve been
adult for much longer than I should have been and my girlhood was stolen the
minute the North Koreans dropped their nukes over the United States.
As for boys … well, that’s pretty much out of the question now, too. My love
life is too messy to even talk about.

I have nothing.

Except, maybe, my cause, my mission, The Resistance. It is the hope I have to
cling to, I am counting on it to pave the way to my future. As things heat up
and the terrorist sect known as The Rejects make themselves known opponents of
society in this war, the choice to be on the side of good is harder than ever.
My friends are broken; Olivia is a shell of her former self and Jenica is
barely hanging on. Dax and Gage … well, we’re not talking about my love life,
remember?

The Rejects, the government, President Drummond; they are pressing in on us
from all sides and the weight tremendous. Still, when given the choice to
crumble or stand, I’d rather stand. Times are dark, but we are here, a
rebellion, a whisper in the dark, a spark that lights the flames of change.

Excerpt:

With weapons in our
hands, we’ve managed to even the playing field. Still, the Rejects fight with a
ferocity that we just cannot match without becoming monsters ourselves. Even
now, our side chooses stunning in favor of killing. The ionized cuffs are whipped
out as soon as they go down, chaining their prostrate bodies together as they
lay unconscious. The issue of what to do with them comes later. The few we have
killed are ignored; a necessary evil committed when there is no other choice.

My body goes into
fight mode, and all thought is lost. Muscle memory takes over as I fight any
and everything in my path. Bones and cartilage snap under my hands, and my
well-fired lasers stun one after the other. My concentration is only broken
when pain jolts my human arm and explodes in my chest. I glance down to find a
jagged tear in the arm of my flight suit and blood welling in a gash going down
my bicep, almost to the elbow. The red, sticky liquid oozes down to my
fingertips and drips onto the street. I turn to find Baron standing nearby, the
long blade that’s attached to his bionic arm speckled with my blood.

“Hello, love,” he
says, his Aussie accent thick with sarcasm. “Always a pleasure to see you.”

I level my gun at him
and take a shot, but he deflects the single laser with a slash of his blade. It
bounces off and disappears somewhere into the fighting mob surrounding us.

“Now, now,” he says,
clicking his tongue in admonition. “How very rude of you. I didn’t shoot you.
Honestly, love, I thought you and I had a connection.”

“Never!” I hiss. “I
am nothing like you!”

He scoffs. “You and I
are more alike than you could ever imagine, love. I really do like you, but if
you don’t get out of my way, I’m going to have to hurt you more.”

I raise my bloodied
arm and curl my hand into a fist. “Retract that blade so I can beat the shit
out of you.”

Baron smiles, and
insanity glows in his eyes. “Gladly.”

The blade is gone and
he lunges at me, a sneer fixed on his face. I race forward to meet him, ducking
as he throws the first punch. My leg sweeps out to knock his feet out from
under him, but as he goes down, his legs capture mine and twist, taking me with
him. He’s over me in a flash, hands wrapped around my throat and choking off my
air supply. Remembering my training, I wrap my legs around his waist. Grasping
the lapels of his jacket, I roll him off me and switch our positions,
straddling him and bringing my titanium fist down on his head. His metal-domed
head hits the ground and bounces off, unhurt. Anger clouds my vision as I think
of the people in that video being burned to a crisp and children being thrown
from a roof. A sound like an enraged growl burns in my chest and escapes my
throat as I punch him again and again, the clanking sound of metal against
metal resounding as I pound against his head. Baron’s head bobbles like a rag
doll and then snaps left as I pound his jaw with a powerful right hook. Blood
sprays from his mouth and a tooth goes flying. Typically, a punch in the face
from my metal hand can render a person unconscious. Apparently, crazy people
are more resilient than others are. A spray of red fills my vision, and I’m
torn between being pissed off or grossed out when I realize that Baron has spit
blood in my face. Blinking to see through the crimson gore dripping down my
face like bloody tears, I don’t see it coming when his head—now dented from my
assault—races up toward mine.

My head snaps back,
pain explodes through my head and down my spine, and I fall to the ground in a
heap. Swiping at my eyes, I cannot muster the strength to lift my head, let
alone stand. I can feel my body trying to slip into unconsciousness, but fight
it with everything in my being. To lose consciousness now will mean death.
Baron stands over me and clenches the fist of his bionic hand, causing the
blade to slip out again. He raises it high and sneers down at me.

“If you don’t wish to
be a part of the new world order, then you must be eliminated. I won’t allow
anyone to stand in my way. Not even you.”

I glare at him and
try to raise my head, wincing as I realize some of the blood trickling down my
head is my own. There’s a huge gash on my forehead. “How could you do this?
You’re ruining the only chance our kind has left of becoming part of society
again.”

Baron laughs. “Why
would I want to be part of society when I could rule it? That’s the problem
with you fools in the Resistance. You don’t see the bigger picture.”

My heart pounds in my
chest as he brings his arm down, the blade racing toward me. I muster enough
strength to roll out of its path once. The blade scrapes against the gravel and
he lifts it again, laughing as he prepares to take my head off with a single
blow.

Ever
since she first read books like Chronicles of Narnia or Goosebumps, Alicia has
been a lover of mind-bending fiction. Wherever imagination takes her, she is
more than happy to call that place her home. The mother of two and wife to an
Army sergeant loves chocolate, coffee, and of course good books. When not
writing, you can usually find her with her nose in a book, shopping for shoes
and fabulous jewelry, or spending time with her loving family.